Putin calls for “the consolidation” of Russian society – L’Express

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responds to journalists on Tuesday, December 19, at the end of a year marked by the disappointed hope of a major counter-offensive, followed by the crumbling of Western support and increased pressure from the Russia on the front.

⇒ Putin in front of the hierarchs of his army

⇒ The UN regrets that the world is “jaded”

⇒ The Kremlin intends to “circumvent” the new sanctions

Vladimir Putin praised Tuesday, in front of the hierarchs of his army, the “consolidation” of society” behind his assault on Ukraine, a few months before the presidential election and the second anniversary of a murderous war. Taking stock of the he year 2023, the Russian president once again criticized the West for waging war on him through Ukraine, accused his neighbor of Nazism and called into question the existence of the Ukrainian nation. And he again presented this conflict as a struggle for Russia’s survival against the West.

“Perhaps the most important thing is […] this general consolidation of all the forces of society. I once thank those who help our fighters on the front,” he said in front of an audience of generals, senior officials and even the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, gathered together at the Ministry of Defense.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regrets that the world is “blasé” about the war in Ukraine where war crimes continue to be “committed mainly by the forces of the Russian Federation” .

The evidence assembled by the Office of the High Commissioner “continues to document flagrant violations of international human rights law, serious violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes, mainly committed by the forces of the Federation of Russia”, denounced Volker Türk on Tuesday in Geneva during a debate on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before members of the Human Rights Council.

The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that Russia would “circumvent” new European sanctions on the lucrative diamond trade, which the EU sees as a source of financing its offensive in Ukraine.

Western countries have adopted a significant number of economic sanctions against Moscow since the start of its attack in Ukraine almost two years ago. The European Union adopted a twelfth package of measures of this type on Monday, notably banning the import of Russian diamonds.

Russian nationalist and Kremlin loyalist Leonid Slutski, named Tuesday by his party as candidate for the March 2024 presidential election, immediately promised that Vladimir Putin’s victory will be “enormous”. Leonid Slutski’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) is one of the political groups constituting the parliamentary opposition on paper, but which in reality supports the master of the Kremlin. He is the first candidate designated to face Vladimir Putin, and a few others, equally attached to the Russian leader, should follow.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Tuesday a capital increase of 4 billion euros, which will notably allow “significant and sustainable investments in Ukraine’s real economy”. The governors of the institution “approved a resolution aimed at increasing the contributed capital of the Bank by 4 billion euros, thus bringing its capital base to 34 billion euros”, announced the EBRD in a press release .

A Polish court on Tuesday convicted 14 members of a dismantled spy network for preparing acts of sabotage and carrying out intelligence activities for the benefit of Russia.

“After examining the case, the court found all the defendants guilty of the crimes charged and found that some of them operated within an organized criminal group,” announced Judge Jaroslaw Kowalski while pronouncing the verdict.

The French sporting and leisure goods group Decathlon continued to deliver clothes to the Russian buyer of its stores, notably through a “shell company” in Dubai, according to an investigation published Tuesday by the media Disclosed.

While most Western groups left the country after the start of the war in Ukraine, Decathlon, for example, delivered Kalenji jogging jackets, Wedze ski jackets and Quechua pants and shoes to Russian Desport stores, for a total of of at least 12 million dollars (around 11 million euros).